I have this goal that somehow, someday I will be able to go to bed at night, sleep through the night, and stay awake through the day. In other words, I want a normal sleep experience. I want to have this normal sleep experience consistently. This may or may not involve an occasional nap, but that’s okay.

This is a dream that seems far from my reality. My sleep schedule is no longer a schedule. I can get four hours of sleep at a time, sometimes up to six, but that can happen at any time. I can force myself to be awake at a certain time, but the effect is only temporary. My sleep schedule rotates from being awake during the night to being awake during the day, with about two complete shifts per week. I rotate from a 18 hour day to a 36 hour day (in contrast to a 24 hour day), but those are just rough estimates. The point is that my sleep “schedule” is definitely not healthy.

So, I had a sleep study to start the healing process. That happened Tuesday night. I arrived around 9 pm. I was brought into a room that resembled a hotel room, complete with a bed, two night stands, a bathroom, and a television. I watched a video that explained the sleep study process and what they might discover about my sleep. After that was done, I got into my jammies.

Then, the technician wired me. It was similar to the boys’ EEGs, but different, too. The technician told me that most sleep technicians were actually EEG technicians. There were wires for my head, my face, and my legs. There were straps with wires across my chest and my abdomen. These wires were tucked in a “ponytail” and clipped to one of my straps. While they were uncomfortable, they felt psychologically restraining.

The sleep technician went off to her other patient and I filled out the paper work I was supposed to have completed before I arrived, as well as the few forms that I got from the technician. I finished shortly before the technician returned to plug me in so I could go to bed. I was definitely drowsy. A few more wires were added, including a bandage-like one for my finger, which would measure my blood oxygen levels.

It was all pretty painless. Then, I went to bed on the adjustable bed. I made it a soft (but not too soft) number 50. The pillows were thinner than I usually prefer. The technician became a disembodied voice over a speaker. She ran me through a few maneuvers – breathing, wiggling one leg, then the other, looking (with just my eyes) up, down, and to each side. Then, I was allowed to roll onto my side, using one of the pillows to help support my upper leg, and go to sleep. Sometime during the night, the disembodied voice told me to sleep on my back, so I did. Then, I fell asleep again and had a weird dream about being strapped and wired with a disembodied voice giving me commands. It wasn’t frightening, but it was a sci-fi version of the real experience I was having and it was a bit disturbing.

I woke up around 4 am and had to go to the bathroom. It’s a good thing it wasn’t urgent, because she had to come in and unplug me before I could go, which was different from our EEG experience. I told her that I wouldn’t be able to sleep again, which is usually true. She needed me to lie down for another hour, even if I didn’t sleep. So, I did, though I didn’t want to. I was restless and awake and annoyed for some time, and then I heard the disembodied voice telling me it was time to wake up. Somewhere in between those two events I fell asleep, though it didn’t feel like I had. It seemed like I was conscious of the time between, but maybe I wasn’t. I wondered what level of sleep I’d reached in the duration, but I didn’t ask. She unplugged me, unwired me, asked me a few questions, gave me a few instructions, and I got dressed.

I slept through the night and I felt better rested than I usually do. I wasn’t as sore as I usually am in the morning, but I don’t know if it was because I didn’t toss and turn as much (because I was conscious of being wired, even in my dreams) or if it was because I’d made the bed much softer than my own. I was able to drive to the convenience store and then to Dunkin’ Donuts and then home without a problem, even though I hadn’t had my morning medicine. I took that when I got home and tried to get back into my routines. It was difficult, because everything was different. It was disorienting. But I’d slept. Hopefully it provided the doctor with the information he needs to help do it more often. We’ll see.